


Breaking Point

by Afieldofheathers



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Byleth Regrets Church Route, F/F, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Church Route Spoilers, Oneshot, Pre-Timeskip, Ye have been warned, author halfassed the church route too hard and couldnt beat endgame so they restarted instead, author wound up on church route and hated it, so author will now vent, vent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 10:36:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20619632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Afieldofheathers/pseuds/Afieldofheathers
Summary: Byleth sides with Edelgard without a fight. At Rhea's shock, she also decides the Black Eagles ought to know the whole truth about her and the Archbishop.





	Breaking Point

**Author's Note:**

> So the tags basically say it all. I screwed myself out of Edelgard's route, and decided I would just rush through the church route to unlock new game+. Except in doing so I half assed way too hard and got stuck at the final boss woefully unprepared for the fight. The route left a bad enough taste in my mouth that after 5 tries I was just done. New Game+ wasn't worth the frustration, and I didn't feel like the Church deserved an ounce of sympathy. So I restarted, and this fic is a representation of that, where Byleth retains their experiences and knowledge from her time on the Church route.

"It is said that our creator, the goddess Sothis, sat upon this very throne. Professor...do you recognize this throne?" Rhea asked.

"I do." Bypeth responded curtly. No reason to lie about it, she figured, even if Rhea could still not see fit to stop lying to her.

"Good. I have waited so very long for this day...go now. Sit upon the throne, Professor. I have no doubt that you will be gifted a vision from the goddess." Rhea urged her, a calm, easy smile upon her face that belied her true intentions.

Byleth sighed deeply, and stepped forward to take a seat on the throne. As expected, as much as it felt familiar, lived in, natural, nothing else came to her. She was still here.

"Well?" Rhea asked expectantly. Byleth simply shook her head no in reply, gaze as intense as ever. "It was supposed to be but a step away! What could possibly be missing?" Rhea lamented at this, before a sharp voice interrupted them both.

"Stop right there."

Byleth stood and rejoined her class as Edelgard, Hubert, and Metodey made their presence known.

"What's the Imperial Army doing here!?"

"Edelgard...did you know about this?"

"Yes, in fact I gave the order."

"You made use of us? Why?"

"Wait! What's the meaning of this, Edelgard!?"

Byleth did not pay much attention to the other students. Her heart was already resolved. Her decision was already made. Even last time, it had been. The only thing left to do was to show no weakness, to not repeat her past mistake.

"Insolence! You will atone for the sin of trampling upon this holy resting place! Professor, destroy these villainous traitors who dare dishonor our creator!" Rhea commanded. Byleth took a deep breath, steeled herself, took one step forward...and turned around.

"I will not." she said simply, but firmly, an intense gaze fixed on the remaining Black Eagles and Rhea. 

"You would dare defy a direct order, Professor!?"

"Allow me to make my own revelation, Rhea. I know what I am. I know what you did to me. And I think the students behind you deserve to know as well." Byleth replied simply, her eyes narrowing. "You put on such a convincing facade of caring. For Fódlan. For those around you. For peace. For your own teachings. But none of that is true." she continued, a hand on the Sword of the Creator, ready to draw it at a single false move.

"You lie! You traitorous-"

"SILENCE!" Byleth ordered, eyes aglow. The students staggered back, the professor's raised voice a new and truly horrifying experience to them. "I know these things from your own lips. I have lived all of this once before, and in my weakness I remained with you. In so doing, I trampled on the trust one of my precious students placed in me when she revealed just how her very being had been violated for want of a Crest. And my only reward was to find out the atrocities you have committed, and to watch everyone die at your hand when your Crest Stone corrupted you. After I led them on a campaign against their own homes and families, after cutting my path across the grave of my beloved, my grief allowed us to become weak and complacent, and so when you turned, I could only watch everyone die, over and over, for nothing, until I could not bear to see it again. I will not bear it again, Rhea. There's plenty of room for hope, peace, and happiness in this world. But there's no room in it for you!" Byleth said, sword now drawn and leveled at the Archbishop.

"You are just another failure, Professor. I will tear your chest open, and rip your heart out myself!" Rhea snarled, yet still not making a move.

"What heart, you vile witch!?" Byleth spat with unbridled malice. "Do you mean the Crest Stone of Flames, which you implanted in a stillborn child!? The reason my mother had to give her life for mine!? The means by which you hoped to replace me with your goddess in this very room, on that very throne!? No, I will not let you destroy another life with this accursed stone!" she added.

"The what!?" Edelgard asked, shocked, as the rest of the Black Eagles recoiled from Rhea in disgust.

"It is true. My mother, and many nuns before her. Each had the Crest Stone of Flames implanted within them. The hope was that their sacrifice would bring about the return of the goddess. But no, the goddess' consciousness never so much as appeared for any of them. I was meant to be the success, after my escape from that wicked spell brought Sothis' power into me." Byleth said. "In the end, I used the power of the progenitor god to rectify my own weakness. I returned to the very dawn that we met in Remire Village. Ever since, I have faced each day, each tragedy, with one goal: to cleanse this world of the Church's hypocrisy. Edelgard," Byleth continued, with a nod in the young empress' direction, "my steel, and my heart, are yours."

Edelgard could scarcely believe it. The truth was worse than she had ever imagined. Amidst the horror, though, she was grateful. The Professor would be at her side, as she had always wanted.

When the other Black Eagles fell into line with her and the Professor, condemning the Archbishop's actions to their Professor, she nearly wept for joy. Finally, she could realize her dream, of a Fódlan free of the Crests and the atrocities committed for want of them. Of a Fódlan at peace. And she could do it with the help of everyone she had come to hold dear. As Hubert took the group of them to safety, Byleth took her hand, with an easy look free of the pain and hatred that she had just allowed to flow freely, a look filled instead with hope.

"We'll cut this path together."

**Author's Note:**

> And there you have it. I'm not going to add anything to this. I wrote this with the clear intention of it being a standalone oneshot.


End file.
